Mir’s mock-up displayed in Japan

Visitors to the Centre of Science based in Tomakomai, Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, have focused their attention on an unusual exhibit - a mock-up of the Russian-made space platform Mir. This is a clean copy of the Russian station which is to be de-orbited and scuttled in the southern part of the Pacific. Japanese experts say that before that the station will fly over the Japanese islands at the altitude of 150-170 km. The management of the Centre of Science assure that the mock-up of the Mir was constructed as a stand-by prototype of the space station. According to RIA Novosti, this model was purchased from the USSR in 1991 by a local construction company and afterwards it was transferred to the city administration.